Record: 28-1

Coach: Don Haskins

Best players: G Bobby Joe Hill (15.0 ppg), F David Lattin (14.0 ppg)

During the regular season: Won their first 23 games, soaring as high as No. 2 nationally. They lost only at Seattle in their final regular-season game.

NCAA history: Claimed the only NCAA men’s Division I title in Texas history after upsetting Kentucky in the final. But to get there, the Miners, now UTEP, needed overtime victories in two earlier tournament games in Lubbock, beating Cincinnati in overtime and Kansas in double overtime.

What makes them special: The sociological ramifications of their victory still resonate today. The Miners started five African-American players against an all-white Kentucky team. The Texas Western players also have been immortalized in their own movie and have been inducted as a team into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Record: 31-3

Coach: Guy Lewis

Best players: F-G Michael Young (17.3 ppg), G Clyde Drexler (15.9 ppg), C Akeem Olajuwon (13.9 ppg).

During the regular season: After losing back-to-back games to Syracuse and Virginia, the Cougars ran off 22 straight victories and claimed the No. 1 position in the poll for the final three weeks of the regular season.

NCAA history: After winning their first four games, including a titanic dunkfest against Louisville in the semifinals, the Cougars unraveled late in the national championship game against North Carolina State. Lorenzo Charles’ late put-back dunk at the buzzer enabled the underdog Wolfpack to escape with a stunning victory.

What makes them special: Known for their incredible athleticism, the Cougars are still known today as Phi Slama Jama, Texas’ tallest fraternity. With Hall of Famers Drexler and Olajuwon along with Larry “Mr. Mean” Micheaux and legendary streak shooter Bennie Anders off the bench, Guy Lewis’ team might be among the most famous teams never to win the NCAA title.